I will be sending my little sister/sous-chef off to live and work in Japan this summer and we're just starting to experiment with baking sans oven or microwave (we're told her apartment is quite small)

That being said, I will be posting some recipes we're planning on trying, have tried, and are curious but definitely can't try (Japan doesn't have some of the ingredients she'd need) in this new collection: No Oven, No Microwave, No Problem!

If anyone has recipe suggestions or just living in Japan suggestions, we'd love to hear them!

Peanut Butter Special K Cookies

Ingredients

1 cup white sugar

1 1/3 cups peanut butter

1 cup simple syrup (recipe below)*

4 cups crisp rice or wheat cereal

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 pinch salt

Directions

Blend syrup, sugar, vanilla and salt in a sauce pan. Bring to a simmer for 4 minutes, or cook until mixture boils and sugar dissolves. Stir in peanut butter, then add the cereal. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto waxed paper. Let cool before storing.

* The original recipe called for 1 cup white corn syrup, but I don't like cooking with it. Feel free to use the original suggestion, but I will be using a homemade simple syrup.

Simple Syrup (corn syrup replacement)

This will make about 2 cups

2cups white sugar

3⁄4cup water

1⁄4teaspoon cream of tartar

1pinch salt

DIRECTIONS

- Combine all ingredients in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly.

- Reduce heat to a simmer and put cover for 3 minutes to get sugar crystals off the sides of the pan.

- Uncover and simmer, stirring often, until it reaches the soft ball stage.